Clown Loach Overview, Diet, Aquarium Setup, Water Conditions, Habitat & Care, Tank Mates, Gender Differences & Breeding:

Clown Loach is from Cobitidae family, & they are from Indonesia. They live in the isles of Sumatra & Borneo in Indonesia. They can grow to a size of 12 inches. They live in streams & rivers with fast moving water.

Loaches are not just kept in aquariums but in places of Indonesia & Borneo, these beautiful looking fish are eaten as food due to their large size of up to 1 foot. Setting up a Clown Loach tank is not easy. Clown Loach is classified as peaceful or semi aggressive & they can do well against other peaceful tank mates. If you are keeping snails in aquarium, then it might be eaten up by Clown Loach.

Clown Loach has other name Toger Botia, & it is a fresh water fish that belongs to botiid loach family. The fish is originated from Indonesia. Clown Loach is a popular fresh water fish available in the whole world. Clown Loach is an inexpensive fish but needs moderate care level. Minimum aquarium size for Clown Loach is 100 gallons.

The name of Clown Loach is because of its bright colors & stripes. It is called Clown due to its stripes & the ability to entertain aquarists with their odd habits, for example it can swim upside down, or play the game of death. It has the habit of amusing family.


Clown Loach Diet:

Offer your Clown Loaches little food more than a few times every day. Adult fish might not accept every food, but little Clown Loaches will eat almost anything you feed them including food tablets & vegetable flakes. You can also feed them meaty foods including fresh, frozen & dried shrimps which can offer them proper nutrition.

 

Clown Loach Aquarium Setup & Water Conditions:

Clown Loach like fast moving water in tanks. Ensure your filter is able to produce high currents which produce movement in the water & aerate it. Clown Loach like to hide in rocks, caves & structures inside aquarium which can help secure the fish & provide them relaxation in their new surroundings.

Info. about max. size of the fish varies, & some of the aquarists have Clown Loaches that are up to 30 cm which is roughly 12 inches. Adult Clown Loach is about 6 to 8 inches in length. It means that you need to have a tank size of about 100 gallons if you want to keep Clown Loach happy. Also make sure you have free space for swimming as Clown Loaches are schooling fish & love to swim in group. Clown Loach is a moderate fish which means care level is not easy.

Clown Loach needs a temperature range between 25 to 30 Degree Celsius, a pH level between 5 to 8, & needs water hardness of 5 to 12 dH.

 

Category

Rating

Temperature

78° F to 87° F

pH

6.5 – 7.0

Hardness

soft water fish

Max. Size

12 inches

Min. Aquarium Size

100 gallons

Diet

Omnivore

Care Level

Medium

Behavior

Semi Aggressive

Price

$6 to $8

 

Clown Loach Habitat and Care:

Clown Loach is a schooling fish, & it is very active. It needs a bigger aquarium with enough space for free swimming. Also provide them with hiding spots where they can rest & they need caves & other structures for hiding. They also love tubes, & hidey holes for rest. You can make hiding places of wood or rock, & also keep strong plants because Clown Loach like hiding under them.

Unlike other loaches that show activeness only at night, Clown Loach like to be active at day too. Though Clown Loach like to be more active in the early morning & at night.

Make sure you have better water conditions if you want to keep Clown Loaches in aquarium. Clean water, aerate it & keep it warm. Add a filter to aquarium & change water regularly.

Loaches are sensitive to ich diseases; have a close look at them when you introduce new plants to the aquarium. If your Loach is infected, then do not use ordinary medicines because of its sensitivity to some of the medicines. Often hobbyists use half dose for better results. Make sure you read medicine info. before curing Clown Loach.

 

Clown Loach Tank Mates:

Clown Loach are peaceful with its own kind & other peaceful mates but they can show some aggression. They like to live in community & form a school with other mates. You can add any peaceful fish to Clown Loach aquarium. They have the habit of living in groups, so it is advisable to add 4 or more loaches in a single aquarium. Make sure you do not add bright light in aquarium because Clown Loaches hate them, & have enough plantation & hiding spots where they can take rest.

 

Clown Loach Gender Differences:

You can recognize male of Clown Loach by its tail which is larger, forming a more pointed V-tail shape, & they show more bright colors. There are not many cases of Clown Loach breeding in captivity so no details about their breeding habits & needs are available.

 

Breeding Clown Loach:

It is difficult to breed Clown Loaches in aquarium & it needs some levels of expertise if you want to do it yourself. Make sure you have a mature breeding pair if you want reproduction. The size of each fish in the Clown breeding pair must be about 6 inches in length. This makes the process difficult. Also if you are planning to breed clown in aquarium, then it is difficult to achieve it. The difficulty arises for pairing the fish & determining the pristine specimens that show interest of breeding. Once the pair wants to breed, then put them in a planted aquarium & maintain water quality. Once the spawning is done, then remove the pair because they can eat the fries & eggs. After hatching of the fish, the babies raise like other fish fries. Feed them live infusoria followed by baby brine shrimp & flakes. This is a difficult job & needs some expertise to save the fry.

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